Chapter 7 Andre
ANDRE
Two weeks after the night I shot Yusef and stained the carpet in my office with my blood, that night Sofia had come into my life, I begrudgingly came to an honest admission that some pithy generalizations about this world were true.
“Good things come to those who wait,” I said as I sat with my cousins after a birthday party we’d had for Claire.
Roman huffed and shook his head as he reached for his drink. “Well, I’m not waiting.” He finished his drink and splayed his free hand at the rest of us. “I’m not waiting and moping that it’s not my turn to do something as stupid as fall in love. And settle down.” He snorted.
We’d had a nice night so far. A dinner. Now just hanging out on the large patio space.
Claire insisted that she didn’t want anyone to make a big deal out of her birthday.
Mikhail heeded her warning. But my sister, Anya, hadn’t gotten the memo.
She was to blame for the actual party effort of the evening, but it was still toned down.
This wasn’t a grand ball or anything like what society would expect of us with how wealthy and powerful we were.
Tonight was about family. Just being together.
I wasn’t sure how the conversation had shifted to our nagging Roman about being such a player, but it had.
“There’s nothing stupid about letting a woman matter in your life,” Sergei said as he glanced at Maisie dancing to music with Anya on the other side of the room. Then he dragged his gaze to Natalie, smiling at her as she talked with Claire.
He’d come back from his honeymoon a few days ago, and he didn’t look like he was suffering from the “mistake” of loving a woman.
My father strolled by, holding Owen in his arms. “The only stupid thing about it is when it happens whether you want it to or not.” He shot me a stern look.
Sergei shrugged. “None of us would ever be so distracted as to not serve the family,” he replied.
My father didn’t respond, merely watching me.
“I don’t get why you’re harping on me,” Roman protested. He pointed at me. “Tease him about being next in line to give up his freedom and be shackled down.”
Sergei rolled his eyes. My father shook his head at Roman’s carefree and non-committal attitude.
“He’s already on his way,” my father decided dryly.
“What?” Roman whipped around to face me again. “You met someone? When?” He barked a laugh. “You’ve been hell-bent on finding that mole for so long, you did nothing else. I thought you’ve been recovering and healing at home—oh…” He grinned. “That short and sassy maid?” he guessed.
I stared him down.
“I knew there was something else going on there.” He chuckled. “You couldn’t keep your eyes off her when we met at your place yesterday.”
Guilty as charged. I lacked the ability to shut off the need to know where Sofia was at all times. The closer she was to me, I could relish the increase of electric need. And the further she was from me in the building, the more I fell into the desperation of wanting her close.
That was why I’d come to the realization that patience was the name of the game I had to play with her.
Good things come to those who wait.
And I’d wait out Sofia until she wanted to cave to me.
“A maid, though?” Roman shrugged with a salacious smile as he glanced at my father. “It’s not like we haven’t all helped ourselves to the staff over the years. They’re around. Convenient.” Another shrug. “It’s not like he’ll marry her.”
I looked off to the side, not commenting.
Of course, I wasn’t fucking marrying my damn maid. That was a reach. But I also wasn’t giving up on something with her.
Sofia had yet to take the initiative with me. Each time I found her, she’d kiss me back. Every chance I had to talk to her, she carried on a conversation without asking for more. She was careful, holding back and not submitting to me, and yes, it was slowly driving me crazy.
But not to anything lasting like Roman was implying.
I was infatuated with her.
I was addicted to the challenge of conquering her.
And it was not something I’d discuss with them. Sooner or later, she’d bend. She’d snap to the slow-burning and consistently building tension between us. Then I’d know what it was like to have her and that would solve that enigma.
“What I meant was that good things come to those who wait,” I said to change the subject. “You all called me out on being a workaholic to find that mole. And I did. I bided my time and I got him.” I lifted my glass. That was something I’d drink to.
“Maybe,” my father said before carrying Owen toward Claire.
I scowled at his back, annoyed that he remained skeptical whether Yusef had been the mole at fault for selling intel. Yusef had been going through my things. He had to have been the mole. Perhaps I could’ve questioned him, but I had been certain and acted on it.
Besides, the interference with our drug routes and shipments had ended. Without our information being provided to Roberto Giovanni, he was at a loss for trying to meddle with our business.
“You know, I had been hearing some chatter that Emilio Ricci was hacking into our database,” Roman said. “I was assuming he was the mole.”
I shook my head. “No. I walked in on Yusef going through my things. And since he’s been dead, no intel has been shared.”
Roman smirked. “Yeah. But you hardly ever leave out papers with details anyway.”
He had me there. I wasn’t prone to handling incriminating paperwork at all.
Photos were a necessity at times, but those could be digitized and saved too.
I did most of my correspondence digitally, and a couple of months ago, I had been on the same train of thought, that the mole was likely hacking into my system somehow.
“Hey, as long as the motherfucker’s dead and the problem is over,” Sergei said with a nod at me.
Agreed.
As far as I was concerned, that problem was over. No one could give me shit about being distracted by Sofia.
I left the party shortly after and sought her out in my building.
Because I was a bachelor and prone to working more than relaxing, it seemed stupid to even have a maid full-time in the building.
Renee could handle my needs for cleanliness, and I seldom got enough rooms and floors of my residence dirty enough to warrant a second maid.
It was evident in how little work there was for Sofia to do. She seemed idle, often enduring excuses for chores to clean things that didn’t need to be cleaned.
I won’t complain.
The more idle she was, the more attention she could give me.
Finding her on the balcony outside the dining room, I closed the doors behind me as I joined her.
She jerked up from reading on her phone as I arrived. I’d discovered how much she liked this spot several days ago, and since she kept coming back to relax here, I took it as a sign that she didn’t mind my company.
Her phone fell onto her lap, and I bit back a groan at how she’d already changed. Instead of her black-and-white maid’s outfit, she was wearing lightweight loungewear. Short shorts and a T-shirt that left nothing to the imagination.
Oh, fuck me now.
I sat next to her and sighed, wondering how long I’d last out here in her presence before needing to go shower and jerk off to the dream of her.
When I lifted my arm to put it around her shoulders, she shook her head and got up. Giving me a view of her ass as she moved from one side of me to the other, she teased me cruelly.
She settled on my good side, aware that lifting my arm all the way was still painful from the wounds on my other shoulder.
“How was your day?” I asked, almost chuckling at the lame line to break the silence.
Dancing around each other like this was getting tiresome, but not a bore. I knew she wanted me. She made sure to sassily remind me after every stolen kiss that she wouldn’t be seduced.
It left us here, in the middle, stuck under tension and aggravation to hold back on our mutual desire.
“My day hasn’t changed since a few hours ago when you visited the pantry.”
I grinned, recalling her indignation that I’d followed her even there to make out with her. She hadn’t pushed me away. Instead, she’d moaned against my lips and even lifted her leg to wrap it around my waist.
My cock woke up at the memory of her rubbing against me.
“You still seem tired.” I turned to admire her profile instead of pretending to look out at the city.
“Thanks,” she quipped wryly.
That had been my excuse to follow her into the pantry.
I’d asked why she looked tired and she sassed back that it wasn’t polite to tell a woman she looked tired.
That led to my asking her if it was polite for me to kiss her like I wanted to, right before I did.
And she’d given me a sultry reply that it wasn’t polite but exactly what she wanted—until common sense returned and she escaped.
“Or are you stressed?” I asked.
She furrowed her brow. “Who isn’t stressed at some time or another?”
Aha. I had my answer. Something was bothering her, giving her that pinched look of worry.
But what?
The drive to fix her problems burned hot inside me.
Even though she was maintaining distance from me, we’d talked over the last two weeks.
It didn’t take much for me to be able to understand that she was likely struggling financially and she hadn’t come from a stable family.
She’d mentioned a desire to go back to school for nursing.
She’d caught herself from rambling about how much she loved being able to help people.
“I’ve been thinking,” I told her, rubbing my thumb over the curve of her shoulder as we sat together. Not touching her in some capacity was just impossible.
“I won’t be seduced,” she stated flatly, anticipating that I was about to proposition her.
“Why deny this?” I asked.
Before she could have her turn in this predictable game we played, where she’d pin it on me to define what this was, I gripped her chin and turned her for a hot kiss.
This.
This fucking need we can’t stop.
This insane pull to each other.
This goddamn perfection that makes me feel like a god when you surrender and kiss me back.
She let out a shuddery breath when she parted from me. Her eyes were still closed, but as she opened them slowly and seared me with her mesmerizing caramel gaze, I felt like I’d been punched in the gut.
Roman could laugh about us all having messed around with staff before. It was no different from the attitude that we could have any dancer, stripper, escort, or whore we wanted.
One deep look from Sofia was so powerful, I felt like I would do anything for her.
Anything to get her to choose me.
To want me.
Because winning her over was my mission in life. I was sure of it.
“Let me help you.”
She furrowed her brow, looking so defiant and worried.
“I can give you the means to go back to nursing school.” I brushed her long, rich, chestnut hair back from her expressive face. “Freedom from having to work at all. Earn a paycheck working as you want to. I can start you as a trainee under my stepmother, who has a clinic—”
“No.”
She shot to her feet, ready to flee.
“Why?” I snagged her wrist. “Why does the idea of my help intimidate you?”
She stayed, giving me her back as she shook her head. Those wavy locks of dark brown swayed over her shoulders. “I won’t be seduced.”
Fuck.
I gritted my teeth, annoyed with myself how much it had to matter that she chose to want me. I couldn’t force it. She mattered too much. She was too high of a reward to manipulate.
“Look at it as my offer of gratitude.” I tugged on her arm, and she slowly faced me. “As a thank you for helping me when you didn’t have to.”
She frowned. “All I know is that if I become your thing, your mistress, your woman, your lover, nothing will ever be the same for me again.”
I scowled, picking apart the riddle of her words. “What?”
“No, Andre. I told you once, and I’ll repeat myself until I’m blue in the face. I won’t be seduced.”
And there it was.
She couldn’t lie to herself or me that she wanted me. Her repeated stubbornness not to be seduced could only mean that she didn’t trust me.
I released my fingers, watching her lower her arm. Her refusal to trust me, to give in to me, irked me. Although it wouldn’t help me at all, her defiance sparked my need to conquer her. Her resistance pushed me to sink deeper under the spell of obsession.
I wanted to own her. To have her until she screamed my name. To worship her until she was spent and fully vulnerable to me.
Not like this.
She was too strong, too proud, too determined. And I wouldn’t be the asshole to tamp down her fire.
Forcing her wasn’t the thrill.
Waiting for her to cave would be.
I stood, stepping into her space. She still hadn’t stormed off or left the balcony. Fiery to the end, even like this as she stared me down, she enticed me. I had to admire her for her tenacity to stand up for what she believed in.
“Nothing would ever be the same if you were to trust me and submit to me,” I said slowly.
She tipped her chin up higher, but I caught the tremble in her lower lip, the faint hint of tears clinging to her eyes.
I licked my lips and leaned in closer to whisper in her ear. “Maybe that’s the point of it all.”
Leaving her with those parting words, I put my hands in my pockets and left her on the balcony.
Nothing would be the same if we surrendered to this connection simmering between us.
That was a premonition I wouldn’t backtrack on.
I was convinced life would only be better, fuller, and more worth experiencing fully if she could submit to me. If she could swallow her pride or ignore her worries long enough to see that I’d keep her safe and satisfied in all ways.
In the vein of hoping that good things really did come to those who waited, I heaved out a long, deep sigh as I headed to my room, wondering when she’d finally take a chance on agreeing with me about that token of philosophy.
I’ll let you see how long you can deny us what we want, Sofia.
I’ll be waiting for you.